Shifting Loyalties
by ODST 357
Summary: A reposting of an earlier story I wrote, and cancelled due to writer's block.Basically about a squad of clones on Kasshyk when Order 66 is enacted, and they find themselves arrested because of their Sergeant's shady past. Yeah, I suck at writing intros.
1. Chapter 1

Lambda Squad trudged through the jungle, on a mission for Commander Gree to find a Sep communications dish. Sergeant Jax sighed. His squad had been out here for three days, and their com pack was broken. He had no idea what the rest of Lieutenant Hajj's platoon was doing, and even when Lambda squad found the dish, they would have to trek back 20 miles to report their success. Jax was still grumbling about the shitty mission Hajj had dumped on them when Corporal LZ-15/10 ran toward him, yelling about deactivated droids or something like that.

**Two days prior…**

Lieutenant Hajj ran full speed to Commander Gree's hut.

"Sir! A message from the Supreme Chancellor! Priority Alpha!" Gree's head shot up and he dropped the datapad he was holding, the tiny device tumbling over the edge of the _wroshyr _tree and into the Shadowlands below.

"Sir, your datapa-"

"It's not important, give me the transmitter _now_!" Hajj relinquished the device, stepping back to afford the commander some privacy. All he could catch from the conversation was:

"It will be done my lord." Gree shut down the comm device, and nonchalantly tossed it over the edge of the platform. He opened a private channel to the Lieutenant, so as not to be heard by the Jedi standing two meters away, and said,

"Lieutenant Hajj, the Jedi have attempted to assassinate the Chancellor. Our orders are to make sure Master Yoda does not leave this planet alive." Hajj nodded and grabbed his DC-15.

"Yes sir." The pair ran into the room, but before they could fire a shot, Yoda effortlessly decapitated them. Before the bodies hit the floor, Yoda and his wookie guards were gone, disappearing into the afternoon mist.

**One day prior…**

Yoda waved goodbye to Chewbacca and Tarful as he climbed into the pod that was to take him off planet and away from the traitorous clone troopers. He sighed, sat down, and flicked the ignition switch. He watched the Wookies roaring at the sky and shaking their bowcasters through the pod's single window.

Lord Vader switched off his communicator and walked over to Viceroy Nute Gunray's corpse. He bent over, and after a few seconds of searching, found his ID card. Typical Neimodian, Vader thought, keeping all his valuables in a hidden pocket. He slipped the card into the console nearby, and sent the order to deactivate all the droid armies in the galaxy.

**Now…**

"All right Corporal, calm down. Now, what was it you found?" The clone inhaled and composed himself, then proceeded to tell Jax of the separatist base they were looking for. Typical Sep outpost. Barracks, recharging post, relay dish, and not much else. There was something in this base however, that distinguished it from all the other enemy bases he'd been in. None of the droids were powered up! The corporal and his backup, TZ-76/84, had walked right through the open gates into the parade ground for maker's sake!

"Corporal, take me to the base."

"Yes sir!" said the clone, snapping to a salute. "Follow me!"

Two hours later, they were standing in the plaza of a small Sep outpost, and the squad's demolition expert was busy rigging the entire base with enough explosives to create a fireball that would rival Kashyyk's sun. Jax walked around the base, realizing that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the inner workings of an enemy base without being shot at.

He quickly became bored, there wasn't much to actually watch except for a tattered Sep flag fluttering in the wind. The other clones, much to his dismay, had discovered the fun of "droid tipping" and it wasn't long before someone hurt himself.

"Medic!" yelled Private TZ-76/84 from under the smoking remains of a B1. Jax rolled his eyes and ran over. The squad medic, CS-61/42 was already treating him for a blaster wound to the thigh, caused when the B1's gun had discharged upon hitting the ground. The medic was clearly trying not to laugh, and it was a good thing the wounded trooper couldn't see his face.

"Oh yeah Twitch, you'll get the order of Palpatine for this!" he said as he injected the soldier with bacta.

"How does this sound: Awarded for wounds received when a droid fell on him!" Twitch got up, brushed his armor off, and tackled the medic to the ground. Jax frowned.

"HEY! All right! All right! Break it up!" The clones seemed to have forgotten about him, because the jumped up right away and muttered half-hearted apologies to the sergeant. Jax walked away shaking his head, and stepped into the room where his communications man was trying to use the Sep dish to link up with Republic Forces.

"There's too much comm traffic sir, all these calls coming in and out concerning something called uh…Order 66. Any idea what that is?" Jax got a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach, and was suddenly glad his helmet was on.

"Uh…no trooper, no I don't. Keep trying, I'm gonna go try my wrist-comm on another frequency."

The private shrugged as his sergeant walked out the door. What part of "no communications" did his superior not understand?


	2. Chapter 2

Commander Gree's waist buzzed.

Though the good commander was long dead, his armor didn't know that, and so there lay a camo colored suit of armor, buzzing in the mist. Eventually, as per protocol, the armor's computer switched the incoming call to the helmet's external speakers. This was so that the soldier, who might be indisposed at the moment, would be sure to hear it, and if not, one of his comrades would be sure to tell him that his armor was talking to him. So, as per protocol of course, a voice penetrated the morning calm, the voice of Sergeant Jax.

* * *

"…and so sir, that's why I wanted to check with you, since I had only ever heard the order mentioned once in command school, as one of many backup plans we have in place. I just wanted to make sure that this was for real. My squad's comm pack is disabled, so you'll have to reach me on this."

Sergeant Jax flicked off his wrist-comm and sighed. Soon Commander Gree or one of his Lieutenants would call him back and all of this would be sorted out. Jax refused to believe that the Jedi would turn traitor on them without a good reason. Although, you never knew with beings who devoted their lives to peace. They didn't even wear armor into battle for maker's sake! And yet, every Jedi Jax had ever met had never seemed like the type who would turn around one day and blow your brains out! Or, slice you into bits as it be, they used those funny lightsabers instead of a good solid blaster.

Jax puzzled over this for an hour, until his demo expert, Pyro, ran up and told him it was time to evacuate the base, and that it was set to blow in five minutes.

"Twitch already stole the flag as a souvenir sir, so we're all set!" He said brightly.

Twitch was what the cloners would call an "aberrant clone", that is, one who doesn't obey orders blindly and displays more than a simple shred of personality. He had an entire trunk of souvenirs back on the ship, everything from droid blasters to Jabiimite armor fragments. He would sell these to civilians on the off chance that they were stationed in a garrison role, and use the creds to buy stuff for the squad. Unusual yes, but then, it seemed, Jax's entire squad had their own little quirks. Pyro seemed to have an unnatural relationship with explosives, and Shadow could zap the life out of any living being from a mile away with his sniper rifle. Doc was, well, he was Doc, the clone who'd saved their lives countless times, often with nothing more than a few bacta laced bandages and some spare synth-flesh. His corporal was pretty much the only normal one in the squad, perfectly cloned, no special talents, no lack of anything required. Which in this squad made him stick out like a sore thumb.

Jax sat up and nodded. "Let's get this show on the road private!" Pyro snapped to a salute and ran to tell the other clones. Jax meanwhile, unslung his DC-15 and headed toward the exit. He keyed his helmet comm once he was out.

"All troopers of Lambda squad, you have two minutes to evacuate the Sep outpost before it blows brighter than Tatoo I." This was followed up by the usual comm chatter, apparently, Twitch wanted to take a droid back to base and retool it as a butler.

"No Twitch," he said into the mike, "but if you're not out in ninety seconds, we're gonna take _you_ back to base in a casket! Now let's move!" The clones double timed it to the front gates and sprinted into the forest. Ten seconds later, the Sep base exploded into a brilliant ball of fire.

The squad stopped and Jax conducted a quick head count.

"…seven, eight, nine. All right, we're clear, let's move." The clones ran through the forest, know under the distinct impression that something was wrong. The Seps don't just deactivate an entire outpost when there's a war raging in the very planet that the outpost happens to be built! Jax, however, was the most worried of the bunch. Had order 66 really been called. And if so, why? The Jedi weren't exactly the type to do something without careful thought, sometimes too careful Jax remembered, but they knew better than to turn against an army of clones bred for battle since they had been capable of conscious thought!

* * *

The clones finally walked into the main Republic base half a day later, only to find it in total chaos. A swamp trooper ran by, yelling

"The Wookies are preparing a counter attack! All members of Able Company to the east wall!" Since he was a lieutenant, and since he looked pretty worked up, Jax decided to obey him and ask why the Wookies where no longer allies later.

"All right Lambda squad, you heard him, set up a position on that stretch of wall. Shadow, I want you to get up in that tower with your beam rifle, and I want Twitch and Pyro up on the parapets to provide crossfire from their rifles. Corporal, take Doc and three riflemen to guard the loading dock at the end of our assigned stretch. I'm gonna check in with company HQ, then I'll get up on the wall with Twitch and Pyro." The clones all snapped a quick salute and then scurried about to their assigned positions. Jax meanwhile, made a beeline straight toward Lieutenant Hajj's tent.

When he got there however, the unhelmeted face of a captain looked back at him.

"Uh, excuse me sir, have you seen Lieutenant Hajj? This was his tent the last time I checked." The captain shook his head and said,

"Well you should have checked again Sergeant. Lieutenant Hajj was killed in pursuit of the Jedi traitor Yoda, along with Commander Gree. I'm in command of Able company now, and Commander Faie has operational command of Kashyyk. Where have you been?"

Jax stopped for a moment to process all that. Gree was dead? No wonder his armor went to external speakers, cause he wasn't there to answer the stupid call! Hajj must have been with him at the time, and tried to killed Yoda. They obviously failed, and seeing as how Yoda was always accompanied by a Wookie emissary, the walking carpets knew that the clones didn't have their best interests in mind. So they were fighting them along with the separatists. Gutsy, even for a warrior race. That also meant that-

"Sergeant? You still alive, or am I talking to a suit of armor?" Jax snapped back to reality.

"Oh, sorry sir. Lieutenant Hajj had assigned my squad, Lambda Squad that is sir, to eliminate a Sep outpost in the forest somewhere, as part of the effort to take down their comm net. So we did, and when we arrived all the droids were shut down. So we followed standard procedure and toasted the outpost anyway. Pretty simple parameters, pulled it off without a hitch." Jax would have beamed if he didn't have his helmet on. The captain nodded.

"All right Sergeant…Jax is it?"

"Yes sir"

"I'm Captain Dak. Anyway, aside from that little debriefing, you are now officially checked in, and you are to report back to your post at the wall." Jax saluted crisply.

"Yes sir!"

He walked back to the wall, and saw clones dashing around, seemingly preparing final ground defenses. The Wookies were supposed to attack in half an hour, according to battalion intelligence. Back at the wall, Lambda squad was in position. A supply hover had come by giving out boxes of ammo to each squad, so they were all set there. Jax pulled out his electro-binoculars and scanned the tree line. Shadow was camouflaged so well the tower looked empty. Pyro was setting up a bunch of single use FAF (Fire and Forget) rocket launchers so he could grab them in a moment's notice should the need arise. Doc was heading around making sure each man's med-kit was stocked, it seemed they were in for a long siege. And his four other soldiers were setting up permacrete barriers around the loading dock. A good thing to, because there was a rumor going around that the Wookies had stolen a cache of weapons from a Republic outpost unaware in the change of allegiances. They would still have to contend with Juggernaughts, AT-RTs, pod walkers, SPHA-Ts and an assortment of other "presents".

The first call of contact with enemy forces came in over the all-hands frequency twenty minutes later from a BARC speeder squad who's bikes had literally been shot out from under them. A few laser blasts could be hear before some human screams echoed across the comm, and then silence. Five minutes later an AT-RT patrol reported contact with a group of enemies roughly the size of a company. Needless the say the walker's didn't last long. This continued for an hour, with contact reported by swamp speeders, pod walkers, UT-ATs, and even a lone Juggernaught. All were destroyed, and the clones sitting in the base listening on the comm could only sit and wait for what they were now sure of would be a fight to the last man.


	3. Chapter 3

I realized that I hadn't put in a disclaimer yet, so I thought that this would be a good place for one. Ahem… I do not own Star Wars, any of it's characters or rights to the aforementioned blah blah blah. I do however, have creative rights to Sergeant Jax and the troopers of Lambda squad, so if you want to use them please ask me first. Anyway, on with the story!

* * *

As the clones of Lambda squad sat on the parapets of the Republic base's wall, they got the distinct feeling that this would be their last battle. This feeling was further driven in by the division sized force of severely pissed Wookies descending on their position. They watched on horror as Wookie flyers buzzed around the sky like butcherbugs and warriors on vines swung over the walls to do battle, screaming like banshees.

Sergeant Jax desperately tried to coordinate the defense of his assigned section of wall, which unfortunately for him included a loading dock that the Wookies had decided would be the perfect place to spearhead an attack.

"They fight like animals", he muttered to himself as he put a three round burst through a particularly hairy Wookie's chest. The beast fell, clutching a live thermal detonator.

"Grenade!!!" Jax screamed as he dove behind a permacrete partition. Three seconds later, a deafening _BOOM _rang out and bits of armor and bloody pieces of Wookie flew everywhere. The grenade seemed to be the pinnacle of the last assault, since there was a momentary lull in the fighting.

He quickly assessed the damage. His corporal had lost an arm, and the three other soldiers from Lambda squad assigned to the gate had been blown to bloody chunks. Only the Wookie suicide bomber had died, but there was a wookie sans an arm laying on the ground howling. Jax quickly ended his misery with his DC-15 and contacted Captain Dak to call for more gate guards.

"Sir, we need more clones up here to guard this gate! A Wookie bomber blew the shit out of my soldiers and all of them are out of the action. I have three KIA and one WIA, and he's not stable enough to fight anymore. We'll have to evac him to the fleet hospital ship." Dak's hologram nodded.

"All right Sergeant. I'm sending up another squad to take your place, I want you out of there. Don't tell anyone, but this base is going to fall. I am trusting you with this secret Jax. I know of your previous background and I am taking that into account." The captain shifted gears so fast he could have made an landspeeder blush.

"Expect Gamma squad in five minutes. Then I want you out of there!" Jax saluted instinctively as the holo faded. He slipped the comm device into a slot on his armor and ran up the wall's ramp to tell his squad to pack it up.

Gamma squad arrived five minutes later on the dot. While his troops packed up, Corporal Has's clones set up shop. Jax and Has had met a few times in the mess hall, but they had never really said anything beyond "Hey, the Corellian steak looks really fake today." So Jax officially turned over command (and liability) of the area to Has, and led his troops to Captain Dak's tent.

The Captain was in the process of packing up the few personal effects clones are allowed, and acknowledged Jax with a grunt. Jax spoke slowly

"Sir, what are Lambda squad's orders now?" Dak looked up from his footlocker and replied,

"I want you to get on a gunship and get the hell out of here Sergeant. Commander Faie is currently in the process of evacuating the entire base and initiating the fail-safe system to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Your transport leaves in five minutes."

"Sir, what about the Wookies?" Dak snorted in disgust.

"They can have the fucking planet. We only stayed behind to make sure that they weren't harboring any Jedi. The Jedi are the real target. They tried to assassinate the supreme chancellor you know, scarred him for life apparently." Jax shivered at the thought.

"All right sir, I'll have my squad evac out immediately." Dak nodded.

"You do that Sergeant."

"Yes sir."

Jax stepped out of the tent and headed over toward the remains of his squad. "All right men, our orders are to evac out on the next gunship. We'll receive our next assignment onboard whatever ship we dock with." Moans of dismay rose from the group, most specifically Twitch.

"Aww sir come on! We just got here and know we're leaving! Let's stay and kill some hairballs!" Jax shook his head.

"All right Twitch, you wanna stay and kill some Wooks, be my guest. But this base is gonna fall soon and anyone left in it is gonna be caught in the blast of it's fail-safe self destruct weapon, so if you wanna rack up a few more kills, you won't live long enough to brag about it in any cantina." His harsh words combined with the urgency in his voice cause a rare occurrence: Twitch actually shut up and stopped moving. He just slinked away from his commander like a wounded Kath Hound. Jax looked around at his squad.

"Any other objections?" Murmurs of "no sir" and "I'm good thanks" rose from the clones of Lambda squad. Jax nodded.

"All right then, lets get the hell out of here!"

They made there way to the landing zone where gunships and various other transports were taking off into the sky, fleeing the doomed base. The jumped into a gunship with cobalt accents instead of crimson, and as it rose into the sky, Jax could see fires breaking out in various parts of the base. The pilot's voice crackled over the speakers.

"I'm closing the troop bay doors since we're gonna be entering space in about five minutes." The doors slid noiselessly shut as soon as he stopped speaking. Jax looked around at his squad, who were now in the process of removing their helmets and talking amongst themselves. Shadow spoke up.

"Hey Sarge, how come you never take your helmet off?" Jax turned to face him, and replied,

"Because I don't want to go blind looking at that ugly face of yours. My helmet has polarized lenses for a reason." With his squad mates roaring, and his face rapidly reddening, Shadow turned around and began talking to Doc about the origin of Bacta.

Half an hour later, the pilot came over the comm again.

"We'll be docking with the _Monitor_ in a few moments. Please grab a handhold, there is a large debris field ahead." Jax grabbed the bar welded into the ceiling, and it was a good thing he did. Twitch, who had thought the pilot was over exaggerating, crossed his arms and leaned against the door. Two seconds later he was on the floor, coughing up blood.

"Aww cough hack man!!!" Doc grabbed a cable from the wall, tying one end around his waist and hooking the other end through a bar on the wall. He then knelt down next to Twitch and checked his for internal bleeding.

"Don't worry Twitch, you just knocked a few teeth out. You must have swallowed them, that's why you were choking." Twitch moaned again, and Doc cracked a smile.

"Sergeant write this man up for the Order of Palpatine with crossed sabers." He said in a mocking voice. Jax laughed.

"Wounded twice in one day, that's rough man!" Twitch got up and shook his fist at them, making sure to grab the wall first.

When the gunship docked and the doors slid open, Jax could see a squad of soldiers surrounding the dropship, guns trained on them. Dressed in the crimson blazed armor of the Coruscant Shock Troopers, they clearly meant business. Jax stepped up, and was rewarded with the sound of nine safeties being flicked off.

"What is the meaning of this corporal?" The squad leader stepped up and lowered his rifle.

"You are Sergeant Jax, commander of Lambda Squad of the 41st elite division?"

"Yes."

"Sir, I have orders to place you under arrest." He held out a datapad. Jax stepped back in shock.

"On what grounds?" The other soldiers in the gunship were now listening intently.

"That's classified sir, but it would make my job a lot easier if you would come with me." Jax dropped his rifle.

"Fine." Two clones stepped up and placed his hands in binders.

"Does the arrest order extend to my men?" The corporal nodded.

"They must come with us as well."

Twitch spoke up. "Now wait a second, I ain't goin with no shock trooper freaks without a-"

A shot ripped through the air, and Twitch crumpled to the deck, dried and fresh blood co-mingling on the rusty deckplates.

The corporal lowered his smoking DC-15 and spoke steadily,

"Resistance is futile. You either come with us or end up like him." He waved his gun lazily in Twitch's general direction and shot him again for emphasis. All the men of Lambda squad dropped their weapons to the ground, and stepped out of the dropship. The shock troopers lead them wordlessly away to the _Monitor's_ holding area.


	4. Chapter 4

Sergeant Jax sat in the holding cell and thought about what had just happened. Twitch was dead, and he and squad was under arrest for some unknown reason. He spaced out for about twenty minutes, thinking of all the possible reasons why he could be under arrest. Unless it was because…

No, he'd never even joined and he hadn't put it on his application-

"Hey Sarge? What's going on?" Doc tapped him on the shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Why are we here?" Jax sighed.

"Doc, I think we might be in here because I'm force sensitive." Doc was taken aback.

"But we're all clones of the same guy, and he wasn't force sensitive, so how could you be?" Jax shook his head.

"But I'm not a clone! Remember when Shadow asked why I never take off my helmet, and I made up some stupid excuse? Well it's because I'm not a clone and no one is supposed to know that."

"But you sound just like us."

"I have a voice synthesizer in my helmet that makes me sound like Jango. The Republic is big on anonymity. When I was little, the Jedi came to my parents, and asked to take me into training. They refused, since I was part of a military family and my dad wanted me to join the Republic Navy when I got old enough. My great great grand-something was a Fleet Commander during the Mandalorian Wars; served under Revan and all that. So my dad considered it a family business. Plus, it was safe ya know? Shuttling around Senators and Jedi from planet to planet, raking in the creds and all that. But anyway, I failed the intelligence test to be a star pilot, and when the clone wars broke out, even with all of its clone troopers, the Republic needed all of the troops it could get. So I joined the infantry. I was actually sent to a training school run by Mandalorians, and so I learned all of the fighting techniques I needed to blend in with you guys. Then, they attached me to the 41st, and here I am. Apparently this whole thing was planned, that's why Captain Dak wanted me off of the planet, so that the shocktroopers could have a go at me up here." Doc looked thoroughly confused, even for a clone.

"But why would they want to arrest you in the first place? You're just as loyal as the rest of us, and we'll vouch for that."

"I assume it's because of my force sensitivity. They either want to kill me or make sure I don't feel any affiliation toward the Jedi." Doc nodded, still not quite understanding.

Two shocktroopers walked into the cell and threw Shadow against the wall. He groaned in pain, and Doc rushed to his side.

"What the hell did you do to him? He's one of yours for maker's sake!" The shocktroopers either didn't hear him or didn't care. Instead, they each grabbed one of Jax's arms and dragged him out of the cell. Pyro tried to stop them, but them whacked him in the helmet with a force pike, and he was out for the next day or so.

Jax woke up in a pool of blood on a cold metal floor. A grey suited Republic officer sat next to him, grinning. Jax tried to sit up, but his elbow slipped in the blood.

"What the hell is going on here?" The officer laughed at his obvious confusion.

"You have been taken into custody because it has come to the Empire's attention that you are force sensitive." Jax looked at him.

"Wait hold up, did you say Empire, or am I still drugged up?" The officer nodded.

"Yes, I guess you haven't heard. In order to secure the safety and security of the galaxy, the Republic has been reformed into the First Galactic Empire. Palpatine has been appointed ruler for life. But why am I telling you this? You're just pond scum, and won't be alive much longer anyway. Now, continuing what I was saying," said the officer through gritted teeth, "You were taken into custody because there was some concern over whether you could perform your duties. As you probably know, all of the Jedi are dead. A few of them attempted to assassinate the Emperor, and so Order 66 was enacted. Now, seeing as how have not had any formal Jedi training, just an in-home inspection to see if you were padawan material, you technically aren't an enemy of the state."

"So what the fuck am I doing here?" Jax spat.

"You are here because the Emperor is currently recruiting loyal force-sensitive's to be in his small army of Dark Jedi. He has expressed interest in you, seeing as you have more brass on your chest than the average colonel." Jax sighed. "I was just doing my job. I don't need medals."

The officer ignored him and flicked on a datapad.

"You do it very well I see. An order of Palpatine for single-handedly taking out a CIS bunker during the battle of Dinlo, allowing for General Tur-Mukan's forces to reach your location."

"Well yeah but"

"A 41st Elite Legion Special commendation from Commander Gree for rescuing him and his command staff during a skirmish on Raxus Prime. Shall I continue? You have been wounded three times officially, maker knows how many times unofficially, and received medals for that as well. You have managed to keep a squad of aberrant clones together without having to pull rank. You are the kind of poster boy the empire needs." Jax raised his eyebrows.

"Two things. One, go ask the hero with no fear to do it. And two, if you need me so bad to be your poster boy, why did you capture me, kill one of my squad mates, seriously wound the other, drug me up and leave me in a pool of my own blood before telling me all this?" The officer smiled a scary, honest smile.

"Because sergeant, we wanted to make sure you would say yes."

"What exactly would this entail?" Jax asked slowly.

"Well, you'd be shipped off to Korriban, where as we speak, a new Sith Temple is being constructed and all of the initiates that the Emperor has gathered are to be trained there. Once you were a Sith Knight, you would be given command of either a Starfleet or an Army, in your case, most likely an army."

"What about my squad? What would happen to them if I accept?"

"They would train to become an elite squad under your command. A bodyguard detail of sorts." The officer said carefully.

Jax stared at the man. His uniform was stained with Jax's blood, but he either didn't know or didn't care, most likely the latter. A crimson spattered patch on his left shoulder identified him as part of the Clone Intelligence Unit.

Jax sighed. "Fine. I'll do it. On one condition."

The officer cocked an eye at him. "You're not exactly in the position to be making demands trooper."

"Just hear me out. I want my squad to be employed as Korriban Guards until I finish my training, so they can be near me. I highly doubt that they'll accept a new leader in my place."

"You place a lot of faith in your friends, but in the end, they are just clones. However, I'll see what I can do. No one wants to lead a squad of aberrants anyway."

"Okay."

"Good. Now, let's see about getting you out of this cell."

* * *

Sith Knight Ethan Jax strode out of his sparse quarters, nodding to the guard outside of his room. His lightsaber swung lazily from his black leather belt, and he was clad head to toe in pitch black Sith robes, save for a crimson cloak that swished behind him as he walked arrogantly down the brightly lit corridors. He still retained his combat boots from his days as a "clone"; however they had been sprayed black to match the rest of his outfit. They clacked on the polished obsidian floors, but Jax paid the sound no mind. He walked down the hall, arriving in the hangar bay where the Sith Army's fleet of ground ships was stored. His personal transport was, of course, fueled and ready to go at all times, and kept under constant guard by the members of Lambda squad of the Korriban guard.

The former clone troopers were now clad in black armor with red accents, similar to that of the Coruscant Police. Their Mark II clone armor had been replaced with Katarn Clone Commando armor, specially requisitioned by Ethan for his bodyguards. And he now had quite a lot of influence in this new Empire. He had been trained by Darth Vader himself; apparently he took an interest in Ethan when he arrived at the academy.

"Lambda Squad, mount up. We're leaving now." He said, his voice cold and commanding. The clones nodded and walked up the ramp of the black and red Lambda shuttle, apparently to tell the flight crew inside to prep the engines. Ethan followed them, and the ramp hissed shut behind him. He went and sat in the cockpit, fully intending to monitor the flight crew as they were put through their paces, and also because, despite all of the Sith's attempts to hammer any sort of personality out of him, he still marveled at spaceships of any size.

"Flight crew, prepare for take off." Shadow, the new leader of their squad, broadcast the order over the ship's comm.

Ethan watched the crew, clad in the black jumpsuits of the Sith Navy, rapidly moving through the necessary processes to take off. His pilot, Captain Ambrose, finally flicked the switch to turn the engines on and very gently rose the ship into the air, knowing full well what Ethan could do to him if he was displeased with his performance.

"Where to sir?" Ambrose asked. He was never informed of their destination until they reached orbit.

"Set your course for Slypraxa VII. I will be meeting with some…colleagues there to discuss some business. It should only take a day or two."

"Of course sir. There a few people in your suite who insisted on meeting with you. Lambda Squad cleared them, so I allotted them ten minutes each."

"Very good Captain. I'll call you if the situation changes."

"As will I sir."

Ethan walked out of the cockpit, and strode toward his suite. Shadow and Pyro were posted outside, Doc was no doubt in the infirmary.

"Sir, there is a Viscount Jars inside. He is a member of the Corellian Banking Commission, and is seeking your help on a, erm, private matter."

"Did you inform Mr. Jars that I am not a mercenary?"

"Yes sir, but he insisted that what he had to say would be of great interest to you."

Ethan sighed. "Very well. I'll see him." He waved his hand, nudging the door's servos with the Force, and it slid open. He saw a rather fat man dressed in ridiculously expensive robes sitting in one of his guest chairs, and walked over to meet him. Vars held out his hand, as if Ethan was his equal, and Ethan stared first at the hand, then at him, a very clear intent in his eyes. Vars quickly retracted the hand.

"So, Mr. Vars, why do you irritate me with your presence?"

Vars was taken aback by the bluntness of Ethan's statements, and stuttered whilst trying to find the right words.

"Well, Mr. Jax…"

"Please Viscount, I am a Sith Lord. Anything less than Lord Jax would be an insult to me, and thus deadly to you."

"Ve-very well, Lord Jax, I come to you with a grave problem. The Corellian Banking Commission has run into some credit problems as of late, and we are having trouble lining up new customers because of this."

Ethan's lip curled. "You wish me to either intimidate your potential customers, or to eliminate the source of your credit problems, am I correct?"

Jars looked quite relieved. "Yes sir, I believe we understand each other."

"No, no, I don't believe we do. I am neither a mercenary, nor some common thug you can use as hired muscle. I am an Imperial Sith Lord, and you will not tarnish my reputation, or insult me by bringing these pathetic problems to me! I will not help you Mr. Jars, but don't worry, you won't have to worry about money anymore."

Jars, who had been looking continually more horrified with each passing word, could not decide whether to be relieved or scared shitless by this last statement. Ethan grinned maniacally, and snapped his fingers. Seemingly instantly, Shadow and Pyro ran in, and grabbed Viscount Jars around the arms, dragging him from the room.

"What shall we do with him sir?" Shadow asked

"Ooh! Can I rig him up? I've got a few permacrete detonators in the cargohold!" Pyro begged, still the munitions expert he had always been.

"No. I think something along the lines of _this_," Lighting shot from Ethan's fingers, striking Jars' body, and dancing harmlessly across the soldier's armor. It had been specially reinforced just for this purpose. "Would be much more appropriate." Ethan grinned wickedly as Jars twisted in pain, screaming incoherently. A rancid smell filled the air.

"Oh for maker's sake, he just shit himself." Shadow muttered, still keeping a tight hold on the unfortunate banker.

The lighting stopped as suddenly as it had started. Black smoke curled into the air and the smell of burning flesh choked the cabin.

"Now, space him." Ethan said.

A look of horror shot across Jar's face, and he fainted.

"Aww, well, that's no fun." Pyro said, reaching down to a container on his armor and taking out a packet of smelling salts. He waved them under Jars' nose and the banker jolted awake. He started screaming as soon as he realized that it wasn't a bad dream, and the soldiers grabbed him, dragging him kicking and screaming across the deckplates. They arrived at the airlock, and Ethan waved the inner door open. They shoved him inside, and the door hissed shut. A small security screen adjacent to the door flickered on, showing Jars' banging his hands on the floor and bawling like a youngling.

Shadow watched the screen in amazement, shaking his head.

"No dignity whatsoever, eh sir? Just like those Neimodian scum."

Ethan rolled his eyes at the display and waved his hand, causing the outer airlock door to shoot up. Jars was caught midscream as he was sucked out of the airlock, his face contorted in an image of absolute pain and suffering.

Ethan waved his hand again, and the screen flicked off.

"Who's next?" he asked, smiling cruelly as he strode down the hallway.


End file.
